Who Knew What

Raising private and foreign funds for the contras

May violate the Boland amendment proscription against "direct or indirect" military support for the contras; some private fund raising skirted U.S. tax laws.

Ronald Reagan

North says he assumed the President knew of appeals to wealthy American donors and "third countries." Reagan has denied specific knowledge of solicitations, although he admits to "thanking" contributors.

Edwin Meese

Neither North nor any other witness has linked the Attorney General to the solicitation of private and foreign funds.

William Casey

The CIA director frequently provided North with instructions and advice about the secret contra-support network. It was Casey, North testified, who told him to set up an "operational account" to handle the flow of covert funds.

Robert McFarlane

The former NSC adviser says he had ordered his staff not to solicit funds. "I never heard those instructions," North testified, adding that McFarlane was the one who asked him to keep the contras going after the Boland cutoff.

Elliot Abrams

The Assistant Secretary of State has admitted soliciting $10 million from the Sultan of Brunei. North says Abrams was also aware of his activities on behalf of the contras.

John Poindexter

North testified that the onetime NSC adviser authorized his fund raising and resupply efforts.

Shipment of Hawk Missiles in 1985

Arms shipments to Iran made without the official authorization of a signed presidential "finding" is an apparent violation of the Arms Export Control Act; failure to notify Congress of the covert action would flout the Intelligence Oversight Act.

Ronald Reagan

North testified that he believed he saw the President's signature on a November 1985 "finding" retroactively authorizing the Hawks sale to win the release of U.S. hostages in Lebanon. Reagan has said he cannot recall when he approved the arms-for-hostages deal.

Edwin Meese

North testified that he assumed Meese not only knew about the shipment but helped draft the finding that authorized it, contradicting Meese's statements that he did not learn of the U.S. involvement in the sales until 1986.

William Casey

Casey knew about the shipment, North said, and deliberately misled Congress, avoiding any mention of the deal during testimony in November 1986 -- one of his last official statements on the matter before his death.

Robert McFarlane

North said nothing to contradict earlier accounts of McFarlane's involvement in arranging the Hawks shipment.

Elliot Abrams

To date, there is no evidence that Abrams was involved in arms sales to Iran.

John Poindexter

Poindexter was kept apprised of the planned shipment by North.

Diverting funds to the contras

Supporting the Nicaraguan rebels with profits from U.S. arms sales to Iran may have been a misappropriation of federal funds and a violation of the Boland amendment, as well as conspiracy to defraud the Government.

Ronald Reagan

North says he wrote at least five memos detailing the contra-support operation, including the diversion. He could not say whether the President approved any of the memos and testified that Reagan subsequently told him that he "didn't know."

Edwin Meese

The Attorney General asserts that he first learned about the transfer of profits from the Iran arms sales to the contras in November 1986, after a memo mentioning the diversion was discovered in North's office.

William Casey

Casey knew about the diversion in advance, said North, and strongly endorsed it, calling it "the ultimate irony, the ultimate covert operation." Last December, Casey told TIME, "I don't know anything about diversion of funds."

Robert McFarlane

McFarlane testified that he was unaware of the diversion until North told him about it during their trip home from Iran in May 1986. North did not contradict this.

Elliot Abrams

While North testified that Abrams was almost certainly aware of contra-support activities, he did not say whether Abrams knew about the diversion. Abrams has told Congress he had no specific knowledge of North's activities.

John Poindexter

North testified that Poindexter approved the diversion with the comment, "This had better never come out."

Engaging in the November 1986 cover-up

Participants could be charged with conspiracy to defraud the Government and obstruction of justice.

Ronald Reagan

North denied telling his assistant, Lieut. Colonel Robert Earle, that the President had said to him on November 25, "It is important that I not know" about the diversion.

Edwin Meese

North confirmed that Meese acquiesced in the proposal that Casey deny cia complicity in the November 1985 Hawks shipment. North also claims that Meese's assistants allowed him to shred documents while they were going through his papers.

William Casey

Intensive shredding began last October, North said, after Casey advised him to "clean up the files" because a contra resupply plane had been shot down and investors in the Iran arms deals were threatening to sue.

Robert McFarlane

North testified that McFarlane instructed him to include false statements in a chronology of the Iran arms shipments; McFarlane has said the misleading entries were given to him by others during a drafting session presided over by North.

Elliot Abrams

North said Abrams asked him to arrange for the return of the bodies of American crewmen shot down in a contra-supply plane over Nicaragua, contradicting Abrams' testimony that he was unaware of any official U.S. connection with the plane.

John Poindexter

After the scandal broke, North said he assured Poindexter that he had destroyed all memos relating to the diversion. (One survived.)